System for Measuring Intraocular Pressure

Abstract

The invention concerns a system of measuring ocular pressure, consisting of at least one implant (30) including a pressure sensor (33) and an electronic circuit (32), implanted in the cornea of an eye and an antenna (31) connected to the said circuit and implanted in the sub-conjunctival space; and a unit (50) for processing the representative values of the pressure, received by a radio-frequency link from the said electronic circuit (30).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention concerns ocular biometry in general and, more particularly, measurement of pressure in the eye.DESCRIPTION OF EARLIER METHODS[0002]Measurement of ocular pressure is used in the diagnosis and investigation of several diseases and to check on the efficiency of certain treatments. Measurement of ocular pressure is used in connection with diseases such as glaucoma. Arteriosclerosis, Horton's disease (temporal arthritis), diabetes, various degenerative family and hereditary pathologies, or those due to age and so on may be the subject of investigation by the analysis of the perfusion output of the head of the optic nerve.[0003]It may be of interest to follow in real time the variations of intra-ocular pressure and the pressure of the central artery of retina for the analysis of the diseases named above.[0004]Up to the present, intra-ocular pressure has been measured by aplanation (tonometry by aplanation) or by air-jet.[0005]These techniq...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018]A further aim is to retain the regular external surface of the eye, for example, to make the wearing of corrective corneal lenses possible.

Problems solved by technology

In addition, occasional measurements (spaced out in time) do not make it possible to deduce, from the pressure measured, arterial pressure at the level of the optic nerve.

A drawback of using corneal lenses is that they need regular maintenance (cleaning, hydrating) by the patient.

On the one hand, manipulation of these lenses by the patient runs the risk of damaging the detection and transmission circuits.

On the other hand, a mistake in maintenance may falsify the measurements.

Another drawback of using corneal lenses is that it prevents the patient wearing vision corrective lenses.

These limitations mean that it is difficult to obtain a continuous measurement over a relatively long period (several days) without interruption.

Another drawback of corneal lenses is that the measurements are often highly affected by noise, which limits resolution in the possible exploitation of the measurements.

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